Tony Shalhoub—no stranger to playing either secretive aliens or the fun kind of mentally ill—has been cast in a leading role in CBS’s upcoming political horror comedy BrainDead. Shalhoub will play a hard-drinking Republican senator whose sudden transformation into a “health-conscious” extremist presumably has something to do with the show’s alien takeover of Capitol Hill (and not the usual mid-50s heart attack responsible for so many briefly overturning leafs). Also, his character’s name is Red Wheatus, a development we’re just going to quietly thank creators (and The Good Wife execs) Robert and Michelle King for, right now.

Thanks, guys.

Anyway, Shalhoub joins a cast that also includes Aaron Tveit, Danny Pino, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who’s set to play a documentarian working to expose the fact that numerous members of the House and Senate have had their brains devoured by an extraterrestrial threat. (Presumably, the forthcoming bill on whether or not to deal with this enemy incursion will get bogged down in bipartisan bickering and committee, at which point the aliens will hopefully mercy kill us all.)